Match of the Millennium

Description: The oldest soldiers are the ones deserving of the most respect. And here, at the Parthenon, is where the old soldiers are remembered. The snekgirl Sophia, dressed as a Medusa, must fight with the stoic Chinese assassin, clad as Peresus, in the shadows of the Greek Parthenon. And it would be so simple of a fight... except for the presence of Bedman. The sleeping boy, on lease from our friends at the NOL, has been entrusted in making adjustments to the natural reality as he sees fit. We hope it means tasteful Greek references of armies of old. But the boy seems to have a mind of his own.

[SOPHIA]
Sophia finds herself twisting and turning in bed once again. Of course being a lamia that normally happens but she seems to be having a nightmare once, it seems to be rather coherent for a dream though. She finds herself in Greece all of a sudden, she's read about it but she's never actually been there. More notably she finds herself wearing a leather bikini which doesn't leave much too the imagination instead of her normal sweater

That's not the biggest surprise though as black snakes dangle from her head and realizing this she lets out a rather loud scream. She needs to find a way to wake up and now before it gets any worse.

[HEI XUANFENG]
It has been a bloody night on the streets of Hong Kong. The Sun Yee On had fought a deadly battle with the 14k that left several dead and many more wounded. Most of the lives that had been snuffed out came at the hands of the killer known as Hei Xuanfeng. The man with the killing fists had been a whirling dervish of bloodshed and death, living up to the moniker of the Demon King of Chaos.

And now, in the comfort of his penthouse apartment overlooking Fenwick Pier, Hei is sprawled out on his sofa, half nude, covered in drying blood, with a half drunken bottle of wine at his side. His eyes slowly fall closed, and his breathing calms and becomes steady, and he drifts off into a deep, deep slumber...

Greece. He only knows that he's in Greece because of the marble columns, the crumbling white stone, and the statues of the Grecian goddess Athena. Like the pop star, only, you know... not.

When Hei looks down, he is not dressed in his bloodied, white suit, but rather in the regalia of a warrior of antiquity. His green-black hair is swept back into a tail, the bangs coming together and crossing just over his brow, above his slender nose. His torso is bare, with supple flesh of golden ivory flawlessly stretched over lissome muscle, delineating each curve and cut. The extensive inkwork that covers him is in tact. Roses, flowing along his left side, covering his abdomen and ribs, with a serpentine dragon coiling about them, and another that winds and weaves along his right arm. A crimson cord is wound around his neck, and matching fabric is tied around his wrists, with the tattered and jagged tail ends flowing around him as if possessed of a life of their own. The armored gauntlets of azure and gold still cover his fists and forearms, and about his waist is an intricate, ornate girdle of matching color, held in place with crimson cord and a golden belt. An armored fauld skirts about his hips, and a white flowing robe and tabbard are worn below that, and baggy, loose fitting silk pants cover his legs, tied with crimson cord below the knee, where more blue and gold armored plating protects his shins, and white slippers adorn his feet.

He doesn't know, yet, why he's in Greece. How did he get here? There's a haze to his thoughts, and slowly that begins to settle into the realization that he might just be dreaming. Greece, a land of mythical warriors. Heracles. Perseus. Jason. So many fables of war, and of bloodthirsty men. Would he not have been at home in such a place?

Looking up from himself, his yellow-green eyes focus their soul-piercing gaze upon another figure. Snakes for hair, and the lower body of one as well. A fabled Gorgon? And then she lets out a blood curdling scream.

"Hey!" He shouts, his voice smooth and silvery, despite the gruff way that he says it. "What's the problem? Keep it down!"

[BEDMAN]
"Don't worry," a voice rings out from nearby. "They're quite harmless. Well, to you, anyway. I can't say the same for your opponent." A frail-looking teenager in a long black shirt (well, more hospital gown than shirt, really) manages to lean on a pillar nearby while also floating a couple of feet off the ground. He adjusts his glasses offhandedly.

"You know, they say the Medusa was, in a manner of speaking, born right here in a temple of Athena." He raises his hands, gesturing at the Parthenon around them. It's still and quiet, save for a light breeze, and the night sky is filled with stars. "Poseidon violates a maiden in Athena's temple and somehow that's the maiden's fault, so she gets snakes for hair, hands of bronze, and a petrifying gaze. Psh. Victim blaming at its worst. Still, the gods have always been capricious, and I suppose I am no different."

As quick as blinking, Bedman is suddenly hovering in front of Sophia instead of off to the side, just out of arm's reach. "I have to admit, when I saw the opportunity to draw the two of you here" - and here he gestures at Hei, who he has so far ignored - "I couldn't resist. Darkstalkers are something of a fascination of mine. Especially since the NOL can't seem to make up its mind whether it's recruiting them or protecting them or locking them up. Luckily, I'm something of a free agent."

Appearing behind Hei, again a foot or so off the ground, he puts a hand on his shoulder. "Now now, steady on, noble Perseus, beloved of Athena. Here before you stands the gorgon Medusa. As you may recall, the way this is SUPPOSED to go is that Perseus retrieves the snake-coiffed head of Medusa, using it as a weapon for many years, before giving it to his patroness to adorn her shield--but--"

Grinning, Bedman returns to his starting spot, off to the side. How does he move so fast. "What good is a re-enactment without a little uncertainty for the audience to chew on? -Does- Perseus win this time? Or is the Medusa too powerful a foe for him, making the noble warrior into an ignoble lawn ornament? That's what I intend to find out."

[SOPHIA]
Sophia turns red as she hears Bedman's story. "But I'm...I'm...I'm..." She wants to say that she's a virgin but she's too embarassed to finish that sentence and quickly changes topic, "So this is more than a dream then since it's pretty unlikely we would all be here together under normal circumstances. I'm assuming you're some kind of incubus then." First she gets transformed by a succubus and now an incubus. Her attention turns Bedman but he seemly doesn't turn into stone. She wonders if her glasses are preventing that somehow or the transformation is only cosemtic.

Her attention then turns Hei, "Please don't cut off my head..." After all she's not sure what would happen if she gets hurt here even if this a dream. While she does have some regeneration ability she's not too keen to find out if that includes decapation.

[HEI XUANFENG]
When the strange boy appears behind him, Hei's shoulder tenses under the touch. Of course, somehow he is even hearing the things that were said when Bedman had been over by the Lamia-Gorgon. His upper lip curls ever so slightly at one corner, and the Chinese assassin lifts his chin, so that he's peering down the length of his nose at Sophia.

"Hey. Cutie." He says, seeming to ignore everything that Bedman had to say about the tale he's trying to tell. "I don't care what this scrubby little bastard has to say. I think you look sexy as hell in that bikini. There isn't any way I'm gonna cut the head off a beauty like you. Scales are cool."

Hei smirks, and stalks forward, entwining his fingers and lifting his hands up over his head to stretch languidly, while cracking his knuckles even within those steel plated gauntlets. His head leans from side to side, his neck crackling like a series of dull, wet snaps. "If this bedhead kid drew us here to fight each other, that means that you're probably real, too. You should come to Hong Kong and let me treat you to dinner. But first, how about we smash this brat's face in for trying to play us for god damned fools?!"

[BEDMAN]
"An incubus...!" Bedman snorts. "Nothing so base or geared towards sexual depravity. I assure you, I am just as human as --well, him." He indicates Hei with his head. "I intend nothing as crude as feeding on either of you or turning anyone into a monster (except with clever costuming); I am merely an observer on the world stage, moving pieces here and there as my producers request, albeit with the freedom to direct as well. It's ideal, really."

"I assure you, you are both quite real, as am I. You know that feeling you get when you're in a dream and you're falling, and the impact never really kills you, it just wakes you up and leaves your heart racing?" He smacks one fist against the other. "Rest assured, here, the impact will kill you. So do take care to not get your head cut off."

Luckily, Hei seems content to be a big flirt instead. Bedman rolls his eyes.

"You can try to take me on if you wish, but you'll find I'm no pushover. Especially in this realm." Snapping his fingers, a trio of marble statues of Athena rise from the ground to stand around Bedman. They slam the butt of their marble spears on the ground once, then hold them forward in a defensive position.

COMBATSYS: Bedman has started a fight here on the top side.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|-======

COMBATSYS: Sophia has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|-======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

[SOPHIA]
"Then how did you turn my hair into snakes? They aren't normally like this...my lower half is though..." She figures she should warn Hei before they continue. "You think I look cute...but I'm just a researcher of the supernatural, not a supermodel or anything. I prefer not to fight, but we might be stuck here for eternity if we don't. It may be best if I feed before we meet in person though. If he can create a dream realm I'm sure he has plenty of energy..." She doesn't feel guilty about hurting Bedman though seeing how he dragged them into this mess. She takes a defensive stance as she prepares to strike.

[HEI XUANFENG]
"An observer of the... what?" Hei asks of the strange lethargic looking lad that seems to be their would-be puppet master in this dreamscape. His thin, arched brows come crashing down into a fearsome glare, and those keen, jade green eyes focus on him. "Producers? What is this?"

Nevermind that. Hei gets the jist of what is happening. Sure. Bedman is the propmaster on this "stage". As Sophia says, there's a good chance that there is no escape from this place unless they fight it out. He turns his attention back on to the snake woman, and he shrugs his shoulders. "Like I said before. Scales are cool. I don't mind your lower half, if that's what your upper half looks like. Let's make sure to feed you nice and plenty. I'll do my best to take it easy on you."

With that, Hei slides his right foot forward, and bends his knees, raising his open palms up into a defensive posture, though still able to strike within a moment's notice.

COMBATSYS: Hei Xuanfeng has joined the fight here on the right meter side.

                 [ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|-======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
"Hm," says Bedman. "I suppose I should have expected as much, for a couple of extras to be confused to their roles upon promotion to main stage players. Let me remind you." Quick as a whip, the boy teleports to Hei's right, still within his armed guard of statues, arms crossed.

"En garde, Perseus!" He gestures lackadaisically, pointing towards the martial artist in his ready pose. "Let us see if you can match the might of the Greek hero for which you're named, eh?" One of the statues breaks off formation, launching itself into a jog.

As it reaches Hei, it leaps into the air, spear pointed down like some kind of dramatic slow motion shot out of 300; before it can land, though, the body explodes and the spear plummets downward at top speed, striking either Hei or the spot where he once stood. A small symbol that kind of hurts to try to focus on hangs in midair where the statue burst.

[SOPHIA]
Those statues could make getting close to attack Bedman a pain, so Sophia figures she do something about those first. While he's distracted by attacking Hei she leans back waiting to strike before she opens her mouth widely. Suddenly acid is discharged with the intent of melting through the statues so she can get to Bedman without any problems.

COMBATSYS: Bedman successfully hits Hei Xuanfeng with Task A.

                 [ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[HEI XUANFENG]
This is all a dream. Whatever the snot nosed brat says about being able to die here, or whatever, in the end, it's all a dream. And if it is a dream, then the dreamers can exert some form of control over it. After all, their subconscious has to be a part of the very DNA of the environment that they're in. Of course, that means that part of his brain is currently touching part of their brains. Not physically, obviously, but still. That's weird. It squicks him out a little bit.

"Extras?"

The delicate seeming Chinese assassin glares at Bedman.

"I'll show you extra. And put on some damned pants!"

The statue leaps and throws the spear, and Hei looks up at it with a seething look of intense anger. He tries to duck out of the way, but it is to no avail. The spear crashes into Hei, and punches right through his body, pinning him to the ground behind him. He cries out in pain, but he doesn't just roll over and die. This is a dream, he tells himself.

His gauntlet clad fist raises and comes crashing down on the stone spear, shattering the haft into little more than dust and jagged pebbles. Pushing himself off of the rest, the svelte Asian man launches himself forward at the bedridden villain. His arms become a blur of motion, each one attempting to strike with precise jabs of his steel-tipped fingers into vital spots on Bedman's body. None of the attacks themselves are strong. They just feel like simple taps. Over and over. For all of his speed, perhaps he doesn't have any strength at all.

"Woooooah!!! ATATATATATATATATATATATATAAAH!!!"

He finishes with a single, final tap to Bedman's forehead, and should he be successful, that last triggers a violent reaction within Bedman's chi, causing it to corrupt and expand and corrode him from within.

COMBATSYS: Bedman blocks Sophia's Acid Paper.

                 [  |||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////      ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|==-----\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Bedman interrupts Bai Lie Quan ES from Hei Xuanfeng with Transfinite Possible.

                 [    |||||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|-------|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////          ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
As Sophia's acid glob flies through the air, Bedman conjures yet another stone centurion from the ground with a juddering rumble. It takes the attack square on the chin, disintegrating its head with a hiss, raining stone shards on the dream master. He flies rapidly to the side, lest she decide to lob a follow-up acid loogie.

Hei, on the other hand, gets more up close and personal. Bedman's defenses are too slow to react in time, and the assassin does indeed play taps on the boy's body. They do sting - they'd probably leave bruises in the real world, and very well might anyway - but they're not the final movement.

"Of course," he says to no one in particular, "you could persist in attacking the master of this realm. Futile, of course, but everyone must learn their place somehow. Aren't you forgetting something right now, Mister Xuanfeng?"

As Hei utters his loud battlecry, the discarded headless statue that kindly absorbed Sophia's acid comes whirling in from the side and smacks Hei in the arm, granting Bedman the breathing room to teleport out of range.

[SOPHIA]
@emit Sophia watches as Bedman conjures up another statue, it seems like going strictly after them isn't going to work if he just keeps summoning them. She needs to stop him from teleporting but he's going to need to materialize again first before he can go after him. She attempts to entangle the statues with her tail and force him to go after them directly.

[HEI XUANFENG]
Smacked to the side, Hei Xuanfeng flies through the air only to whip out one of his gauntlets hands and claw the ground. Sparks fly from the white stone as deep gouges are left in it, and Hei uses that traction to turn a fall into a cartwheel back onto his feet.

Well, the brat seems to have a hard on for him, so that should afford the girl an opportunity to do some real damage to the puppetmaster. Gritting his teeth, and snarling, the tattoo'ed killer launches himself right back into the fray. As the Lamia girl tries to make this a more direct battle, Hei will follow the lead. He runs, full bore, at Bedman, and at the very last moment, leaps, whipping his body around in a horizontal cartwheeling motion to execute a perfect Butterfly kick, trying to barrel into the bedbound would-be-god with both feet.

Immediately following that, he continues spinning, following up with a flying, outward crescent kick only to come in with an inward crescent kick from the other leg. His back arches, and he flies heavenward, with a sheet of cutting chi trailing from his foot and leaving a column of learly two dimensional energy that, should it actually make connection, will slice deep into Bedman's flesh.

"What was that? What do you think I'm forgetting?"

COMBATSYS: Sophia successfully hits Bedman with Choke Hold.

                 [       ||||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|------=|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|====---\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Hei Xuanfeng successfully hits Bedman with Duo Yu Tui.

                 [            |||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|-----==|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
"What do you--are you really so incapable of following a simple conversation?" Bedman gestures at the statue that he smacked Hei with. "That. You're forgetting that."

Swerving out of reach of Hei again, he finds himself caught in the Darkstalker's tail. Gracelessly, she chucks Bedman head over heels through the air, where he is easy prey for Hei's double slash. As the blade bite into him, he hisses through clenched teeth and rolls away.

Slowly, he gets back to his feet. "I would have thought two up-and-coming fighters would have appreciated a chance to test their strength against each other, but I see I was mistaken." Quicker than the eye can follow, Bedman is on his feet - no, he's on top of a pillar - no, he's standing upside down on the ceiling. "Or at least that you'd use a little imagination! My dream realm is as close as you can get to the raw potential of creation, and instead you two are spitting acid and using it like some kind of extradimensional version of Tinder!"

He takes a deep breath, composing himself. "Ingrates."

COMBATSYS: Bedman gains composure.

                 [        |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|-------|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[SOPHIA]
Imagination huh? Sophia notices that Bedman's above both of them, he said that the snakes on her head are just costuming. Does that meaning that they're removable? She focuses her attention a bit and one of the snakes deattaches and floats upwards towards the ceiling straight at him. That was a bit odd, she couldn't normally do that but it was a dream after all. The serpent attempts to bite Bedman and drain the energy from him.

[HEI XUANFENG]
For Hei, it doesn't matter what the dreamscape is capable of. He doesn't care about the wondrous nature of it. He doesn't care about the vast ocean of possibilities of creation that it promises. What he cares about? The feeling that some snot nosed punk is trying to assert dominance over him by pulling him in here and playing God. Hei is, after all, a brash young gangster with a chip on his shoulder. A very large chip.

"I might see fit to see what the hot Medusa has for me," Hei says as he cracks his knuckles, and rolls his head on his shoulders to loosen up his neck. "But right now, you've gone and pissed me off!"

Besides, as long as Hei is able to keep Bedman's focus on him, Sophia gets to stay relatively clear of danger. While Hei knows that there is a very likely possibility that he'll wind up going down in this fight, he and Sophia are calling upon another Grecian legend, at the moment. They're proving that even in this place, a god can bleed.

The girl has an idea, and Hei picks up on that idea as he watches her toss out that snake. She doesn't have snake hair in the real world. This is something she decided that she could do only in the dream. Well, if that is the case...

Hei leaps upward, tucking his arms across his chest, and spinning like a top, before he does a single flip and starts spiraling upwards, feet first, towards Bedman on the ceiling. As he nears, that spiraling kick is clearly intended to try to bore through the dreaming dreamer's chest and knock him off balance. Hei then "lands" on the ceiling and immediately whips around, coming in with a sweeping back kick, followed by the other leg in a forward sweep, with either or both seeking to unsettle and knock Bedman from the ceiling to the floor. Or, maybe to the ceiling on his back. Whatever works.

COMBATSYS: Bedman dodges Sophia's Bedtime Story.

                 [        |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|-------|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sophia           0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Bedman dodges Hei Xuanfeng's Que Ti.

                 [        |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|-------|=======
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sophia           0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
The detached Medusa snake hurtles through the air, but only gets a mouthful of marble for its troubles and then dissipates into black smoke and nothingness. Bedman is no longer there, easy as that. From behind Sophia, he chuckles at Hei as the gangster goes kicking wildly into the air and, in fact, only connects with air.

"I can't imagine you make a lot of friends with a temper like that. Who'd want to be a subordinate to a hothead who lets his fists do the talking? You're never going to be one of the prime players in the world without a real attitude adjustment. Take our friend Sophia here, for example: while earlier she practically Wilhelm Screamed her way into being awake, she's definitely already learning how to adapt to this particular reality."

With an actual physical leap into the air, Bedman appears to be going for yet another strike on Hei, this one more straightforward - letting HIS fists do the talking, it would seem?

"But here, nothing is necessarily what it seems."

As the midair Bedman reaches Hei, it dissipates - and from his original location on the ground behind Sophia, a psychic ripple appears instead, lunging for the lamia.

COMBATSYS: Bedman successfully hits Sophia with Task A' Deja Vu.
# Disabling hit! #

                 [        |||||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|--=====|=======
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sophia           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[SOPHIA]
Sophia only really fights when it's necessary. After all she knows there's many people out there who are stronger than she is. "Wait, how do you know my name??" Surely she can't be that well known yet. It's not like she goes out of her way to draw attention to herself. "Then again you seem to be alter brain waves if you can enter our dreams, I'm assuming you can read them as well..."

Her train of thought is interrupted as she's knocked by the psychic wave. It's rather difficult to defend when he's already inside their heads ans she lets out a loud scream. This was quickly turning into a nightmare. "Get out of my dreams!" She uses her tail to spring up herself back up and propel herself towards him. She attempts to curl herself him around and squeeze the life out of Bedman.

[HEI XUANFENG]
"I don't need friends," Hei asserts with a smirk, his green, catlike eyes glinting with a fearsome glare. "I only need those who want to be strong and can obey orders!"

As for Sophia and her ability to adapt to this dreamscape, Hei makes no comment. It isn't that he isn't impressed. Far from it. In truth, he's trying to deflect as much attention as he can away from Sophia. Why? Because it is easier for him to goad this godlike kid, keep him frustrated, annoyed and angry. Keep him focused on Hei himself, while he whittles away what he can at him. This will let Sophia, at least, have a better chance of taking Bedman down, in the end.

Aren't they supposed to be playing the roles of Greek myth, trapped in an epic? What is more epic than a Greek Hero and the monster he was destined to slay coming together to enact vengeance upon the capricious Gods who put them on the path to killing one another?

"Don't let him unsettle you, Sophia! Just keep your cool, and we can teach this punk not to mess with us again! He's not so tough. He just likes to talk big. He's one of those brats who was given a really lame superpower and let it get to his head. He thinks he's better and smarter than us, and he just looks down on us. Nothing pisses me off more than bastards like him!"

Hei leaps off, seemingly flying through the air like a bullet. His entire body twists at the hip as he draws his gauntlet clad fist back. As he closes in, he throws out that fast, fierce punch with a loud growl of frustration, hoping to simply, and straight forwardly, clock Bedman in the jaw.

COMBATSYS: Bedman blocks Sophia's Epic Tail.

                 [          |||||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           1|--=====|=======
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sophia           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Bedman fails to interrupt Aggressive Strike from Hei Xuanfeng with Sinusoidal Helios.

                 [             ||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|----===
[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Sophia           0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
"I could read your mind simply enough, but the truth is that my usual employer has very, -very- extensive databases of things that are unusual and aberrant in this world, including yours truly. I'm just useful enough to stay off their radar and keep myself gainfully employed, which is how I like it." Bedman grins as Sophia lashes out; as she starts to tighten her lashed tail around him, he grunts once with exertion, then replaces himself with a pillar, so that Sophia mostly ends up squeezing stonework.

"As for you - I had judged you to be a quality opponent, to test whether she was truly anything we needed to concern ourselves with without necessarily needing to intervene myself, but instead I find an oafish thug. Perhaps next time I'll stick to Mad Gears; they're less imaginative." Bedman's prattling means he's caught offguard when Hei moves faster than expected; he attempts to counter with a large (and weirdly visible) soundwave, but it goes hurtling past the bulletlike Hei and strikes a pillar instead, rumbling the dream Parthenon to its foundations.

"I'll have you know," he says, rubbing his jaw as he backs away, "I was -given- nothing. I have what I have because I took it with my own two hands. I have seen a realm where gods dare to tread and came back more powerful for the experience. What do you have to offer? A dull wit and a 'punch first' attitude." He snorts derisively. "The Ideal World has no need for people such as you."

[SOPHIA]
This was starting to get annoying with how much Bedman kept teleporting around. Of course Sophia doubts he'll tell him who he's working for so she decides to go in a different direction, "Did they sent you to kill me?" After all it's pretty easy to conceal some dying in their sleep. "I've seen some horrible things myself but it's not an excuse to kill people!"

Sophia frees herself from the pillar, she's heard of squeezing blood from a stone but not like this. She picks up the pillar, normally she wouldn't be capable of such a feat but it was a dream and tosses at

Bedman. That was one way to get blood from a stone right?

[HEI XUANFENG]
"You're seriously complaining that I'm more imaginative than other "oafish" thugs, when you brought me into a dream world and then complained that I don't do anything with it?" Hei inquires of Bedman with an air of furious incredulity. "Make up your damned mind, you rambling brat! I know punks like you all too well. You keep talking yourself in circles so you can sound smarter than you actually are, and make people think that you're superior, but in the end, you don't know a damned thing about anything!"

Pot. Meet Kettle. It's not like Hei has much in the way of "real world" experience. He's just been riding on a vicious, out of control tourbus of a crash course in what it means to live in a world of violence and doing exactly as Bedman claims. Taking everything he could ever want with his own two hands.

Speaking of, he does hold up the hand that he just smacked this would-be-God of an Ideal World with, and smirks, his green, catlike eyes glistening with cruel humor. "As for what I have to offer, I think I just showed you, didn't I? This punch first attitude of mine just allowed me to smack you around a bit. Not too bad, considering I'm such a weak thug and you're so powerful and mighty, right?"

When Sophia asks about killing her, Hei quirks a brow, and thumbs at his nose. He shakes his head. "I doubt that he's trying to kill you. It seems like he just wants to see what you're all about. Then again..."

Hei launches himself back into the fray with a renewed sense of vigor. The kung fu fighter leaps, slipping through the air like a blur as he darts between pillar to pillar, with his long, long green-black ponytail leaving a fluttering trail that traces behind him. Finally, he launches over Bedman's head, and tucks his arms in, twisting his body into a corkscrewing motion that gets interrupted as he lashes out with a lunging dive kick that comes closing in at Bedman right behind Sophia's thrown pillar.

"Given my reputation, maybe he was just trying to get me to do the dirtywork. Which would just piss me off more!"

COMBATSYS: Bedman dodges Sophia's Crushing Throw.

                 [             ||||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|----===
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Sophia           0/-------/-======|=====--\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Hei Xuanfeng successfully hits Bedman with Diving Kick.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|---====
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Sophia           0/-------/-======|======-\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
Sophia's slow thrown pillar is still no match for a master of the mystic arts, but evading it puts him directly in Hei's way, sending him backwards like sack of grain to smack directly into a wall. It shudders dangerously overhead. Good thing this isn't a real monument, eh?

"There you go," he says, slowly regaining his footing. "I wondered how long it would take you to grasp onto the fact that the only true way to test the strength of a creature of the night is someone of their own caliber. Too weak, and she'd merely crush them in her coils. Too strong, and she'd be squashed like a fly. I had judged you to be a match for her in strength, and I was not wrong." Bedman rolls his shoulder a bit, working out some joint pain from that last impact. "Obviously my one error was showing myself in my role as, shall we say, coordinator? Instead of expecting you to figure things out more quickly. Noted for next time."

As he speaks, Sophia's pillar has been hovering behind him in midair, slowly coming down from its full speed and grinding gradually to a halt. "Now, let's see." Twirling his hand, the stone pillar begins spinning around, circling the arena. "Can you catch as well as you can punch, I wonder?" The whirling pillar of fine Grecian marble hurtles through the air towards Hei, hoping to slam him against the wall for full effect.

[SOPHIA]
Wait Bedman set this whole thing up just to test her strength? That does explain a thing or two, but why would he put himself in danger in the process? After all they were focusing more on fighting him then each other. Still, there must be some way to get an advantage on him without him knowing in advance. Maybe she could sneak behind him while he was distracted by Hei. She slithers carefully behind Bedman trying not to be noticed before she suddenly lunges forth and bites at his shoulder.

COMBATSYS: Bedman successfully hits Hei Xuanfeng with Wheel Fling.
-+- CALCULATED HIT -+-

                 [               ||||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|---====
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////                 ]
Sophia           0/-------/--=====|=======\=------\1     Hei Xuanfeng

[HEI XUANFENG]
"Well, don't worry," Hei says, as he backflips away from Bedman, and, in the process, halfway up a marble column, where he takes a crouched pose, peering up at the young puppet master with those cold, green eyes. "I'll fight her, just as soon as we're done taking you out of the equation. That is, provided your little dream world here can survive after we hand you your ass, that is."

He figures that, despite wanting to join forces to teach this kid a lesson in humility, there's likely not a chance of the pair of them getting out of here unless they do battle with one another. That much is a foregone conclusion, and he doesn't imagine that even the Hero and the Monster in this Greek Tragedy coming together to beat the cruel Gods is going to twist the Fate that has already been laid out before them. But doesn't that, in the end, make it more tragic?

Just then, the spinning column comes hurtling at him, and Hei tries to leap from his pillar to avoid it. He isn't fast enough, and instead, the pillar crashes against his stomach, sending his limbs curling around it as the air expels from his lungs forcefully in a shower of blood and spittle. This sends him crashing back into the column he had been squatting on, crashing through it in a shower of debris. Hei skids on his back to a halt and lays there for a moment, gasping for air.

"I am tougher than that. You're going to need a bigger pillar!"

Groaning inwardly at the pain, Hei rolls back onto his shoulders and kicks out and up to his feet. Seeing Sophia going in for the sneaky snek bit, he grins and rushes forward. He'll play the part of the distraction. He has no qualms with that. For him, none of this fight is about winning. It's only about getting vengeance for trying to force him into a situation he didn't volunteer for.

As he nears Bedman, he reaches out, grasping hold of his hand and trying to jerk it up and expose the boy's side, so that Hei, himself, can deliver a palm thrust to his ribcage that then explodes into a ball of swirling, wind based chi that seems to draw everything around them in, closer, like a vacuum. Should he manage to land it, that brilliant ball of light and wind will even twist and warp Bedman's "flesh" and keep him held in for Hei to follow through with his next attack.

COMBATSYS: Bedman blocks Sophia's Fanged Fable.

                 [                |||||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|---====
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Sophia           0/-------/-======|=======\=------\1     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Bedman interrupts Zhenkong Quantou ES from Hei Xuanfeng with Reciprocal Quaternion.

                 [                  |||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|--=====
[          \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Sophia           0/-------/-======|=======\=====--\1     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
"This close to the Boundary, yes, this world will persist even without me. Don't worry, I've seen to that."

Bedman tsks. "Ah, ah -- naughty snake." As Sophia lunges for him, as if by chance -- but is anything really by chance in this place? -- a statue falls from the sky, cutting off the Darkstalker's approach. Some debris falls with it, striking him on the shoulder, but it's barely a pebble compared to the real damage Hei has been applying.

"Well, the good news is, my good sir--"

The boy swings his hand around, sending the fortuitous statue around in front of him, again pelting himself with debris. He seems to be getting winded, though, so he probably can't do that too often... Hei's palm strikes true, but on a stone statue; the vacuum of wind and chi breaks the statue in half, but then pulls the two heavy halves of it towards Hei, along with all the stones in the area.

"--there's always a bigger pillar!"

[SOPHIA]
"You interfere with people's dreams, and you're calling me naughty?" Sophia has enough trouble sleeping at night without other people interfering. She sees an opportunity with the vaccum and the larger pillar and she lunges at Bedman once again. This time her intent is different as she tries to coil around him, she's not planning to hold onto him but instead throw him into the vaccum and the pillar that's been split in half.

[HEI XUANFENG]
Hei would expect no less of a would-be God, then the inhuman level of strength, speed and control that Bedman displays when twisting Hei's own attack around on him. He is caught up by that split pillar, dashed with rocks and detritus, and sent flying away in a shower of debris. His body limp, the tattoo'ed assassin goes flying not into, but through one of the many remaining stone columns, and crashing into the next with a crack. Blood erupts from his mouth in a spray, and dribbles down his chin and onto his chest. Its scarlet hue matches perfectly the ink used to color the roses that permanently mark his otherwise ivory flesh.

Hei falls to the ground, immediately slumping to his hands and knees. He clutches at his chest, trying to reclaim the oxygen that had been forcefully expelled from his lungs. Gritting his teeth, the young killer growls, "No matter how big the pillar, no matter how strong or durable, it can be crushed. Even if it takes centuries of wear, it will eventually crumble to dust and be no more!"

With that, Hei vanishes for a fraction of a second. When he reappears, he's right in front of Bedman, having come to a sliding halt and extending one of his gauntleted hands outward to attempt to drive his fingertips deep into vital points in Bedman's gut. A mirror image of Hei almost simultaneously appears behind the puppeteer, seemingly frozen in the pose of a snapping front kick that leaves him in the splits. As the image of his lunging finger attack fades, Hei appears overhead, with a leaping sidekick aimed at Bedman's face before another image replaces the snapkicking one. A two strike combo of palm strikes at the back, designed to inhibit Bedman by blocking off the flow of his chi. When he flashes again, he reappears before the bedbound warrior, with a double barreled finger jab to two more atemi points. Another image delivers an axe kick from behind.

Finally, several feet away, Hei reappears once again, with one hand extended forward, pointing at Bedman, while its counterpart is reared back like a claw. Brilliant golden light radiates from his palm, building up until his hand is wreathed in sparkling, golden flame. He ducks low, sliding forward with incalculable speed, and brings that chi-wreathed, ironclad hand lunging forward, fingers first, to try to plunge deep, deep, deep into the pit of Bedman's gut. Should he succeed, he'll fill Bedman with the overwhelming power of that golden light, which will then, in turn, violently explode from within the young man. Lesser creatures would certainly be killed by such an attack.

COMBATSYS: Bedman dodges Sophia's Strong Throw.

                 [                  |||||||||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|--=====
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Sophia           0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

COMBATSYS: Hei Xuanfeng successfully hits Bedman with Ba Mian Mai Fu - Wu Ying Zuo Wei.

                 [                        |||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////                        ]
Sophia           0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[BEDMAN]
"Too slow, as usual," Bedman says, laughing as he backflips out of Sophia's grasp. "At least I know, should we ever run into each other in the waking realm, I could probably roll away at half speed and be just fine."

However, such acrobatics, rather than his usual aimless teleporting, put Bedman directly in the path of Hei's ultimate attack. For just a moment, Bedman is wreathed in golden flame, before his eyes and mouth both violently emit golden light. Rather than physical-looking injuries, his body appears to waver and become momentarily intangible in the dream world - repeatedly - like an old television, stuck between channels, unable to focus.

"Not bad," he says, grunting with the effort of doing so. "You certainly have the strength to take what you want. Perhaps, in an Ideal World, you also have the willpower for it." He grins lopsidedly. "Just try not to die before then, hm?"

Unexpectedly, Bedman's real-world bedframe manifests in the dream world as well; he looks visibly pleased to be resting on it - well, as restful as one can be when the bed is still mobile. It rushes forward on its large spiked wheels, flips itself upright, and appears to be attempting to deliver an improvised hip-check to Hei. Once the deadlier opponent is dealt with, perhaps he'll be free to focus on the Darkstalker.

"Do try to wake up now. You may want to see someone about those injuries. I hope you're lying on your side, at the very least."

[SOPHIA]
Sophia turns a bit red as she's embarrassed by Bedman's comments, "I'm not a skilled fighter like you two...I'm doing my best to keep up." Still, she has to do something before Hei gets hurt any further. She pushes her body to limits as she coils at Bedman and focuses.

"I doubt I would have a place in your perfect world but I would like to educate you more about the subject." She certainly couldn't do what she's about to do in the real world. Suddenly out of nowhere, a bookcase full of books about creating a perfect society appears. She attempts to wrap herself around the bedframe and slam the device along with its rider into the bookcase.

COMBATSYS: Bedman successfully hits Hei Xuanfeng with Improvised Frame.

                 [                        |||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///                           ]
Sophia           0/-------/-------|===----\-------\0     Hei Xuanfeng

[HEI XUANFENG]
"I thought you might like that..." Hei says, grinning with a mouth full of pink stained teeth, rimmed in crimson. Blood starts to trickle down from somewhere under his hairline, coating his brow and spilling down the lines of his cheek. But those golden-green eyes are bright and alive. He knows damned well that hurt. No matter what this world is.

"Hey, Snake Girl, don't take his trash talk to heart, yeah? He's trying to break your spirit so you're easier to defeat. Fact is, he wouldn't have brought us here if he was so unconcerned about your level of skill," Hei says, noting that Sophia seems flustered by the condemnations of her speed. "I don't have much left in the tank, but I know I've put a good hurt on him. It'll be up to you to finish him off. Then... come find me in Hong Kong. Ask around for the Demon King of Chaos. You'll find the way!"

With that, Hei is moving, rushing to meet Bedman even as he comes at Hei. The bedframe crashes against the Chinese assassin as he tries to duck and weave out of the way. It's not hard, but Hei is barely holding on by a thread at this point. He drops to a knee, gasping for air.

"Alright, you little prick. I've got one last thing for you..."

He pushes himself up on trembling legs, until he's standing straight. One hand is placed before his chest, fingers pointing upwards, as if in prayer, while the other hand is held in a cupped posture before his waist. He simultaneously raises his prayer hand, and the corresponding knee, until it is tucked up against his chest. Suddenly, both hand and foot come slamming down. His foot stomps the ground, and his fist crashes into his open palm. A shockwave is sent out from him, expanding outward across the floor, swirling and spinning. Hei pivots on his feet, going into a spin on one foot that has his long, long ponytail forming a spiral around his twisting body. The wind, too, picks up, and forms a solid sheet that becomes a swirling dome around him, with the intent of crashing into Bedman and hopefully discorporating his dreamform.

COMBATSYS: Hei Xuanfeng can no longer fight.

                 [                        |||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

Regardless of the final outcome of his attack, after his whirlwind dies down, Hei's spinning slows, and eventually comes to a halt. The lithesome killer's eyes look distant and vacant, and his knees give out. As he falls towards the ground, his body starts to break apart, slivers of flesh and hair and cloth and metal all transmuting into crimson rose petals. Even before he hits the ground, all that is left is a swirling mass of petals, swirling in the wind and vanishing.

COMBATSYS: Bedman dodges Hei Xuanfeng's Zhiming Xuanfeng.

                 [                        |||||| ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

COMBATSYS: Sophia successfully hits Bedman with Dissertation.

                 [                            || ]
                 Bedman           0|-------|=======
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

[BEDMAN]
Somewhere in the real world, a monitor is beeping with increasing urgency.

Meanwhile: Bedman's bedframe warps him BEHIND Hei as Hei, and the ball of wind around him, fly towards his former location, then dissipate into flower petals. Eventually even those are swept aside, gone like tears in rain.

"'Demon King of Chaos'? What is this, an anime?"

Then a bookshelf literally falls on Bedman.

In the real world, the bed springs to action; the damage incurred to his soul comes dangerously close to waking Bedman up. A veritable barrage of needles, loaded with powerful sedatives, all jab into him with the goal of keeping the youth from awakening. In the dream world, his bed springs to action as well, whirling at Sophia like a top - though it's apparent, whether it hits or not, that it's a psionic echo and not the real thing, as the actual dream projection of Bedman is most likely gone as well.

With that, Sophia will find herself having a pleasant night's dream about the Parthenon, before awakening the next morning, the least damaged out of all involved in this night's extended dream.

COMBATSYS: Bedman can no longer fight.

[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

[SOPHIA]
Sophia is a bit surprised that worked, maybe she should learn how to do that in the real world. She hopes Hei is alright, it looks she's going to need learn some Chinese. Still it wouldn't hurt for her to get strong if people like Bedman are going to come after her. After all there isn't always going to be someone around to protect her. For now she's going to get plenty of rest, all that fighting was draining even she technically did end up winning.

COMBATSYS: Bedman successfully hits Sophia with Task B Deja Vu.

[                  \\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

COMBATSYS: Sophia has ended the fight here.

Log created on 20:58:13 05/27/2018 by Bedman, and last modified on 14:56:18 06/18/2018.